# 1981 Armagh District Council election

Elections to Armagh District Council were held on 20 May 1981 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 20 councillors.

## Election results

Armagh District Council Election Result 1981 :
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− |
| UUP | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 40.0 | 38.7 | 9,267 | 0.1 |
| SDLP | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35.0 | 30.8 | 7,363 | 0.5 |
| DUP | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 15.0 | 18.5 | 4,417 | 5.7 |
| Ind. Nationalist | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.0 | 4.2 | 1,011 | 0.2 |
| UUUP | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.0 | 3.6 | 865 | 0.9 |
| Irish Independence | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2.1 | 493 | New |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 370 | 0.7 |
| Independent Labour | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 134 | 0.6 |
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

## Districts summary

Results of the Armagh District Council election, 1981 by district :
| Ward | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | % | Cllrs | Total Cllrs |
| Ward | UUP | UUP | SDLP | SDLP | DUP | DUP | UUUP | UUUP | Others | Others | | Total Cllrs |
| Area A | 37.6 | 2 | 33.3 | 1 | 27.2 | 1 | 1.8 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 4 |
| Area B | 52.2 | 3 | 16.2 | 1 | 22.5 | 1 | 9.2 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 6 |
| Area C | 25.3 | 1 | 46.6 | 3 | 12.6 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 15.5 | 0 | 5 |
| Area D | 32.3 | 2 | 35.6 | 2 | 11.7 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 20.4 | 1 | 5 |
| Total | 38.7 | 8 | 30.8 | 7 | 18.5 | 3 | 3.6 | 1 | 8.4 | 1 | 20 |

## Districts results
### Area A

1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP 1981: 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x DUP 1977-1981 Change: No change
Armagh Area A - 4 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| | UUP | Ronald Allen | 22.78% | 938 | | |
| | DUP | Douglas Hutchinson* | 21.32% | 878 | | |
| | UUP | Samuel Foster* | 14.81% | 610 | 844 | |
| | SDLP | Francis McIlvanna* | 18.97% | 781 | 784 | 804 |
| | SDLP | Francis Kernan | 14.40% | 593 | 599 | 676 |
| | DUP | Norman Kerr | 5.93% | 244 | | |
| | UUUP | Robert Cummings | 1.80% | 74 | | |
| Electorate: 5,833 Valid: 4,118 (70.60%) Spoilt: 178 Quota: 824 Turnout: 4,296 (73.65%) |||||||

### Area B

1977: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUUP 1981: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x UUUP 1977-1981 Change: No change
Armagh Area B - 6 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| | UUP | Jim Speers* | 22.40% | 1,931 | | | | | | |
| | SDLP | Seamus Mallon* | 16.17% | 1,394 | | | | | | |
| | UUP | William McClelland* | 12.67% | 1,092 | 1,264.8 | | | | | |
| | DUP | Thomas Black* | 10.64% | 917 | 955.16 | 959.88 | 963.38 | 1,170.16 | 1,843.16 | |
| | UUUP | Francis Little* | 8.49% | 732 | 768.72 | 808.08 | 819.98 | 867.52 | 895.84 | 1,189.84 |
| | UUP | Robert Turner | 8.61% | 742 | 967 | 968.72 | 1,033.12 | 1,054.48 | 1,087.38 | 1,178.38 |
| | UUP | Thomas Johnston | 8.50% | 733 | 891.4 | 902.2 | 970.8 | 994.04 | 1,026.44 | 1,143.44 |
| | DUP | John Alexander | 6.51% | 561 | 573.96 | 576.4 | 582 | 787.96 | | |
| | DUP | Mervyn Spratt | 5.32% | 459 | 498.96 | 503.96 | 511.66 | | | |
| | UUUP | Frederick Hamilton | 0.68% | 59 | 65.48 | | | | | |
| Electorate: 10,993 Valid: 8,620 (78.41%) Spoilt: 160 Quota: 1,232 Turnout: 8,780 (79.87%) |||||||||||

### Area C

1977: 3 x SDLP, 2 x UUP 1981: 3 x SDLP, 1 x UUP, 1 x DUP 1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UUP
Armagh Area C - 5 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| | SDLP | Patrick Fegan* | 17.55% | 980 | | | |
| | UUP | Jim Nicholson* | 17.23% | 962 | | | |
| | SDLP | James McKernan* | 16.71% | 933 | | | |
| | DUP | Joseph McBride | 12.63% | 705 | 705.35 | 709.4 | 1,041.4 |
| | SDLP | Joseph Dunleavy | 12.36% | 690 | 729.35 | 853.9 | 867.9 |
| | Irish Independence | Patrick Agnew | 8.83% | 493 | 495.6 | 629.9 | 633.95 |
| | UUP | Eleanor Boyd* | 8.06% | 450 | 450.35 | 462.35 | |
| | Independent | Peter McSorley | 6.63% | 370 | 373.9 | | |
| Electorate: 7,281 Valid: 5,583 (76.68%) Spoilt: 207 Quota: 931 Turnout: 5,790 (79.52%) ||||||||

### Area D

1977: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Independent Nationalist 1981: 2 x SDLP, 2 x UUP, 1 x Independent Nationalist 1977-1981 Change: No change
Armagh Area D - 6 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| | UUP | Frederick Armstrong* | 20.95% | 1,173 | | | | | | | |
| | Ind. Nationalist | Bernard McManus* | 18.06% | 1,011 | | | | | | | |
| | SDLP | Pat Brannigan* | 14.41% | 807 | 808.4 | 832.8 | 854.22 | 857.22 | 1,224.22 | | |
| | SDLP | John Agnew | 11.02% | 617 | 617.4 | 646.6 | 672.59 | 675.59 | 887.39 | 1,174.49 | |
| | UUP | George Macartney | 7.02% | 393 | 457.8 | 469 | 469.18 | 820.58 | 822.87 | 823.74 | 855.93 |
| | DUP | Letitia McClenaghan | 11.66% | 653 | 667.6 | 671.6 | 671.78 | 713.78 | 716.07 | 716.07 | 719.55 |
| | SDLP | Gerald Grimley | 10.14% | 568 | 568.2 | 593.4 | 619.41 | 620.61 | | | |
| | UUP | Norman Creswell* | 4.34% | 243 | 394.4 | 405.4 | 405.58 | | | | |
| | Independent Labour | Carson Greer | 2.39% | 134 | 134.8 | | | | | | |
| Electorate: 8,699 Valid: 5,599 (64.36%) Spoilt: 228 Quota: 934 Turnout: 5,827 (66.98%) ||||||||||||